Grassroots social innovation of waste pickers as critique of the existing social order
| dc.contributor.author | Gutberlet, Jutta | |
| dc.contributor.author | de Carvalho Vallin, Isabella | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-04-07T21:56:55Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-04-07T21:56:55Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Grassroots initiatives in the waste sector can contribute to reducing poverty, increasing social inclusion, creating gender equity, and tackling a range of other social, environmental, and climate change objectives. In many parts of the world, organized waste pickers have developed leadership by delivering ecosocial contributions, helping cities deal with waste management, and addressing social valorization within the waste value chain. The activities of these grassroots agents entail an open critique of existing social and political orders, expressed in current mainstream regimes of waste and waste management. Novel practices emerge from marginal ‘niche’ contexts, in which waste pickers experiment with technological innovations, develop alternative governance forms, or obtain successful strategies for increasing income. This chapter discusses the ways in which waste pickers develop their own solutions to tackle the bottlenecks, challenges, and questions that they face in their everyday work life. | |
| dc.description.reviewstatus | Reviewed | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Faculty | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Gutberlet, J., & de Carvalho Vallin, I. (2025). Grassroots social innovation of waste pickers as critique of the existing social order. In H. Corvellec (Ed.), Waste as critique (pp. 144–168). Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198907077.003.0010 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198907077.003.0010 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23559 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Oxford | |
| dc.rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Community-based Research Lab (CBRL) | |
| dc.subject.department | Department of Geography | |
| dc.title | Grassroots social innovation of waste pickers as critique of the existing social order | |
| dc.type | Book chapter |